Best Dog Paw Washers: Simple Ways to Clean Muddy Paws

Dogs love to play in the dirt and mud – it’s natural. As a dog owner, I enjoy letting my pups do what they do best while outdoors. Unfortunately, that means frequently cleaning doggy paws after digging holes or even just from a few minutes outside to go to the bathroom after a heavy rain. In the spring time when the snow is melting and the ground is soggy, this becomes a recipe for a filthy disaster.

My method for cleaning off dog paws used to be simply wiping them with a towel that I kept by the door. This gave me less than ideal results, and a stinky, dirty towel that hung around the entryway.

Thanks to wonderful and innovative pet product companies, we now have easier options for cleaning our dogs paws, and properly cleaning paws may be more important than you think.

Jorge Bendersky, a celebrity dog groomer, pet expert, and best-selling author, says paw cleaning should be completed after every walk, especially during winter months. Ice melting products on the bottom of their paws can be hazardous to dogs if frequently licked and also cause damage to flooring in your house. Dr. Karen Becker also claims that 50 percent of foot licking and chewing can be alleviated by frequently washing dogs’ paws.

Apart from our dogs’ health, dirty paws can also damage carpets, flooring, and furniture throughout the house. So how can we properly wash dog paws before coming into the house? I tracked down the best dog paw washers available today, take a look below to see which type will work best for you and your pooch!

The Top Dog Paw Washers

So what are the best way to get those puppy paws clean, and how are they better than the bath towel I’ve been using in the past? Let’s break them down by category and show you the best of the bunch. Go with whatever option (or combination of options) sounds best for your dog and home.

Dog Paw Washing Cups

First up, I’ll call these devices “washing cups”. The basic gist is you have a cylinder/cup with some brushes on the inside that you add a bit of water to, stick in a paw, twist the cup a few times, and most of the mud/dirt is cleaned from the paw!

Pros:

Low-tech, easy to use and clean

Relatively cheap and easy to transport

Cons:

May be hard to use for dogs that don’t like their feet handled

If your dog is okay with you holding their paws, then I think this is a must-have as your first line of defense against dirt and mud! These devices really nicely, especially in the case of caked-on mud. That being said, there’s no real drying element to them, so you may still need to use a towel before letting your dog inside right away to get any remaining water off their paws.

In my opinion, the best paw cleaning cup is the Dexas Mudbuster. The Mudbuster is available in small, medium, and large sizes to match your pet. The soft, silicone bristles inside the cup can be removed and unrolled to easily rinse off, which leaves the cup itself an easy clean as well.

A More Advanced Paw Cleaner

Paw Boss is a patented paw washing device that’s relatively new and patented in the US. The most unique and impressive feature of the Paw Boss paw cleaner is that it can soap and soak each paw with clean water without having to keep dumping and refilling, thanks to separate dirty and clean water reservoirs. Another great benefit of the Paw Boss is how low to the ground it sits. Many paw washers are taller and require you to pull your dogs leg up and place it into the washer. However, with the Paw Boss washer, your dog can walk right up to it and place their paw in the washer without tipping it over.

It’s not quite as portable as the Mudbuster and takes a bit more setup, but if you’re looking for something to primarily sit by your entry way, this may be a good option for you.

So let’s say you want something to dry those paws off with after you’ve busted all the mud off them – what’s best for that?

Dog Shammy

I’ve ditched the cotton bath towels I was using for my dogs and upgrade to a shammy! A shammy is a special kind of towel specifically designed for absorbing water and drying quickly. You may be familiar with these for drying off a car, but did you know there are shammy’s specifically for drying off your pooch?

Enter the Soggy Doggy Super Shammy. Soggy Doggy makes a whole line of awesome absorbent materials to make your life better like doormats and dog beds. My dogs can be quiet messy drinkers, so I keep a Soggy Doggy door mat right by their water bowl which works great.

The Soggy Doggy Super Shammy is perfectly engineered for wiping your pet down, paws and all. It’s 5x more absorbant than cotton towels and can hold 7x its own weight in water. The microfiber material is washer/dryer safe and dries quickly. The textured strands on this shammy give it extra surface area for absorption, soaking up more water before it becomes saturated (you certainly know that feeling if you try drying a wet dog with regular bath towel).

Measuring 31 inches long and 14 inches wide, what really makes the Super Shammy special is the hand pockets on each end of the shammy. The pockets come to a point which lets you get your hands in there and clean those hard to reach areas on your dog – around the ears, under the collar, between the toes, etc.

Pros:

Easy to use and clean, doesn’t scare or startle dogs

Extremely versatile and reusable

Very inexpensive

Cons:

Another item to run through the laundry from time to time

For me, the Soggy Doggy Super Shammy is the one must-have if you live in any place that gets a moderate amount of rain or if your dog regularly gets into dirt/mud. It’s such a big upgrade from typical bath towels, I only wish I found this sooner.

Paw Wipes

Another option worth considering for cleaning paws is to use a dog paw wipe, specially formulated to be safe for your pets. I don’t like to use a paw wipe for everyday use as they may not be the most environmentally friendly option, but they can be very useful if your pets paws are irritated or if they need some extra cleaning (like if they stepped in dog poop)!

Here’s how I see individual, one-time paw wipes –

Pros:

Cleaning solution helps wipe away germ, dirt, odor, and irritants

Smell pleasant and easy to use/store

Cons:

Non-reusable which makes these more expensive over time

Not the most eco-friendly product

My go-to brand for paw wipes is Petkin. They have a long history of delivering great, safe products for pets. It should also be noted that you may be able to find products like baby wipes for cheaper, but those may include ingredients that are harmful for your pet to ingest. It’s always better to stick to a wipe designed specifically for pets as they may end up licking their paws after a cleaning.

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